Shostakovich & Miaskovsky: String Quartets

Album review

Shostakovich did not turn to the string quartet until 1938, after he had already successfully completed the first five of his symphonies. Shostakovich himself admits that this first foray into the form began more as an exercise that eventually consumed him. The first quartet displays a sense of lightness, ease, and even at times frivolity that would reappear in the subsequent 14 quartets. The eighth quartet, also included on this album, did not appear until 1960 and is of a completely opposite nature from the first: savage, tragic, and full of despair. Somewhere in the middle of these two polar emotional states comes the swan song Thirteenth Quartet of Nikolay Myaskovsky, one of Shostakovich's ardent supporters and would-be teachers. Performing these three emotionally diverse quartets is the Kopelman Quartet, a group of former students at the Moscow Conservatoire in the 1970s who did not come together to form a standing ensemble until 2002. Their interpretive insight is reflective of their early instructors, who included Shostakovich himself. Possessing a quintessential "Russian" sound, the quartet digs into its instruments deeply, producing a very intense, urgent sound, even quiet, still moments. What's nice to see is that in the lighter passages found in Shostakovich's First Quartet and even in the Myaskovsky, the group is able to shift gears and play with a satisfying sense of playfulness. Balance within the ensemble is quite good, although intonation is sometimes a struggle for the violins in their highest registers.

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